Last week, PRWeek reported that the university had issued a pre-qualification questionnaire for a fundraising campaign that requested a minimum turnover of £10m, which no Scottish agency can deliver.

The university has since issued a statement explaining it has removed the turnover threshold.

'After listening to the concerns from a number of sources within the PR and marketing sector, we have chosen to halt the process and remove the threshold entirely,' said the spokesman. 'However, we will retain the exacting criteria to ensure that we find the best candidates for this project.'